Institute of Aging and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom; School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Department of Pain Medicine, Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Manohar L Sharma
Department of Pain Medicine, Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Kate Marley
Specialist Palliative Care Team, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, United Kingdom
Hakan Olausson
Specialist Palliative Care Team, University Hospital Aintree, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Center for Social and Affective Neuroscience, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden; Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Linköping University Hospital, Linköping, Sweden
Francis P McGlone
School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, United Kingdom; Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
C-tactile afferents form a distinct channel that encodes pleasant tactile stimulation. Prevailing views indicate they project, as with other unmyelinated afferents, in lamina I-spinothalamic pathways. However, we found that spinothalamic ablation in humans, whilst profoundly impairing pain, temperature and itch, had no effect on pleasant touch perception. Only discriminative touch deficits were seen. These findings preclude privileged C-tactile-lamina I-spinothalamic projections and imply integrated hedonic and discriminative spinal processing from the body.
